Places of Interest: The American Folk Art Museum, New York City

Although it is not as big as the met or MoMA, the American Folk Art Museum is worth a visit next time you go to New York City. The Met and MoMA, while they are excellent museums, are hard to spend less than half a day in. The American Folk Museum is a great half-day trip, perfect for the person who wants to see all of New York City AND a museum in one day.

Located at 45 West 53rd street, it is right next to the Museum of Modern Art and across the street from MoMA's gift shop. The museum's collection focuses on the ideals of Folk Art: the sense of community, craftsmanship, and sense of diversity, among other ideals. The works are anything from 18th century textiles, pottery, and paintings to 20th century sculptures and artifacts. All of the pieces tell some sort of story; they're not just a pretty thing to be adorned on a wall (speaking of which, there is an actual wall taken from a New Hampshire home that is absolutely riveting). These were pieces of art that were actually used in the home, or had a story of some kind at some point. To me, these pieces were real art.

Amongst all the art, I discovered Henry Darger for the first time. The museum has a lot of information about him, which was great for fostering my immediate interest in his art. The museum gift shop had a lot of information on him too, including a book of all the pieces in their collection, the documentary done on him a couple of years back, and a few postcards (I would have gotten the book and documentary if I had the money; alas, I didn't, so I supplied my fancy with 2 postcards). Also, the museum has the Henry Darger Study Center, which houses research on the artist. There is also a fellowship that involves the Henry Darger Study Center. To view the application for the Henry Darger Study Center Fellowship, click here.

Currently, the exhibits at the American Folk Art Museum are "The Seduction of Light: Ammi Philips/Mark Rothko Compositions in Pink, Green, and Red", which will be on display until March 29, 2009; "Martin Ramirez: The Last Works", on display until April 12, 2009; and "Up Close: Henry Darger", which will be on display until September 2009. Whether you know a lot about folk art or not, this museum is worth the visit.